


May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

by breeisonfire



Series: Shutter 'verse [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hey look it's a series now, M/M, Pre-Slash, Snapchat, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 08:26:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeisonfire/pseuds/breeisonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles puts his plan of making Derek laugh into action. The more he succeeds, the more he learns about Derek. And he learns he likes this side of Derek he's never seen before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hello. I've decided that this is indeed going to be a series. I'm not sure how fast the Sterek element will go. Stay tuned for when I figure that out.
> 
> The name of the 'verse was thought up by my lovely friend neoneco on Tumblr. The original idea for the series was prompted by prettiestalpha on Tumblr. Still un'beta'd. Enjoy!

At first, Stiles thinks this plan will be easy. He just has to make Derek laugh. And hopefully get another picture of that, because although he’s a pretty good hacker, he’s not able to retrieve the picture and there’s no way in hell he’s asking Danny. So, yeah. Just make him laugh. No problem.

Stiles has always been convinced that he was a pretty funny guy (although Scott’s convinced _he’s_ funny, and Stiles loves Scott, he really does, but Scott’s sense of humor sucks), so he figures he’ll just go be himself at the next pack meetup. This turns out to be the next Friday, movie night.

Stiles doesn’t see Derek outside of the pack meetings, although he always texts him when he knows he’s getting off a shift at the fire department (he’s no longer a volunteer; he actually works there now, Stiles is flat out amazed) to make sure he’s okay, and they Snapchat often. But they don’t talk in person except at pack meetings.

It’s easy enough to talk to Derek at the pack meetings. Derek’s assigned seat during the movie is on the loveseat next to Stiles, and often times Derek is Snapchatting with Cora. Sometimes Stiles will get in on it, and send random messages to both of them. So it won’t be out of the ordinary if Stiles starts messaging him or talking to him.

He starts out slow, taking a picture of himself eating Chinese and then sending to everyone currently at the table with the text, “You’ll never guess what I’m doing right now.” The reactions are about what he’d expected. Scott laughs, Isaac and Lydia both throw their napkins at him, Allison sends back a picture of her doing the same thing with the text, “I have no idea,” and Derek gives him the old, “what the fuck, Stiles?” look that Stiles is so fond of. But when he looks closer, he sees the corners of Derek’s mouth are turned up a bit.

_And we’re on our way, folks!_

Stiles counts this as a victory, even if he didn’t outright laugh, because really, Stiles isn’t going to be picky on this, because he’s an optimistic person, damnit. He can handle taking it slow. This isn’t about him.

He does, however, step it up as they go into the living room and settle down. Today’s movie is _Iron Man 3_ , because Lydia got to pick, and she’s treated him to several long discussions on why Pepper Potts is a badass (Stiles agrees one hundred percent; he doesn’t mention how Lydia reminds him of Pepper no matter how much he wants to). So as the movie starts, Stiles pulls out his phone and sends a text to Derek.

_If Lydia and Pepper ever met, the world would be theirs in less than five minutes._

He hears Derek snort, which makes Scott and Isaac both look over at him, but after a few seconds, they look back at the tv, and Stiles’ phone goes off.

**I don’t want to think about it.**

Stiles counts this as another victory, because clearly Derek is in a joking mood, and that makes Stiles’ job a hell of a lot easier. He’s noticed that Derek seems to be a much lighter mood as of late, and wonders if it’s because he’s no longer Alpha, or if it’s because of how quiet it’s been. Or maybe the time away was good for him. He files that information away in his brain for later and texts Derek back.

_Just remember to stay on their good side. Maybe we’ll be generals in their army._

**Or their pets.**

Stiles lets out a laugh, earning a glare from Lydia and Allison. He bites his tongue to keep the rest of it in and tries to give them an apologetic look, but they’re no longer paying attention. He can feel Derek shaking slightly next to him and looks to see Derek clearly fighting back a grin. He’s not looking at Stiles, but he clearly knows Stiles is looking at him, because he raises his eyebrows in a way that reminds Stiles of the look he got when he said something stupid.

_Thanks, you got me in trouble with them. I’m dead._

It takes Derek a second to respond, but when he does, Stiles has to cover his mouth with his hand to keep it in.

**Better chances for me. I salute you.**

Stiles had always known Derek had a sense of humor hidden somewhere beneath his angry eyebrows, but this was not what he’d been expecting. Derek had always seemed to have a dry satirical feel to his jokes. Suddenly, Stiles likes this plan much more.

_Oh. Thanks. On your head be my...beheading?_

Stiles hadn’t thought that through, but he sends it anyway, too amused to change it. He hears Derek’s phone go off and can see him open it, and then he feels Derek start laughing. The older werewolf is covering his mouth, and he’s ducked his head, but Stiles can see the way his shoulders are shaking, that he is laughing. Stiles grins in triumph and looks up to see the rest of the pack staring at them.

“What?” he asks defensively. “Look, you’re missing Happy’s big moment.”

Isaac and Allison both go back to the movie, but Lydia has narrowed her eyes at Stiles, and Scott’s still staring in surprise. Stiles winks at Lydia and just shoots Scott a shit-eating grin and sends Derek another text.

_Success. I have brought out the patented Scott McCall what the fuck face._

Derek’s recovered by now, and in fact doesn’t even look like he’d been laughing, but Stiles isn’t letting it faze him. He’s made Derek laugh. That’s what he’d set out to do. Now he just has to keep it up, make him laugh until he was able to do it more often and freely. And if he has to make himself look like an idiot to do it, so be it.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He Snapchats Derek all week with ridiculous pictures of things he sees around, like a poster Coach hung up in the locker room that has, “Never give up, never surrender!” along with a picture of Tim Allen underneath it (Stiles doesn’t think Coach has ever seen Galaxy Quest, not that he minds the poster; he likes the movie), and a gorilla mask he finds underneath the new chemistry teacher’s desk (he doesn’t want to know). In return, he gets pictures of Derek and the other firemen at the station and the occasional picture of a pet Derek was called to save.

In short, his plan is working, and Stiles is very proud of himself when he shows up at Scott’s house on Friday. Isaac isn’t there; he got a job at a nearby grocery store and is finishing up a shift, so it’s just Stiles and Scott until either Derek or the girls show up. Stiles walks in and plops down on the couch next to Scott, who is in the middle of his third playthrough of _Mass Effect 3_.

“Hey,” Scott says. He doesn’t turn away from the screen, where Commander Shepard is talking to Mordin. Stiles watches for a few minutes before getting bored and pulling out his phone. He’s started Snapchatting Cora, too, and so sends her several pictures of Scott playing the video game.

Stiles notices Scott pause the game and look at him, and he looks back, wondering what was on Scott’s mind, because clearly something was. Scott raises an eyebrow at him.

“What?” Stiles demands, feeling weirdly self-conscious. He’s not sure why. This is Scott. Sure, he’s got a fancy title and red eyes, but underneath he’s still the dorky asthmatic Stiles had grown up with.

“What are you doing?” Scott asks.

“What do you mean?” Now Stiles is really confused.

“I mean,” Scott waves his hand at Stiles’ phone. “All the texts and stuff you’ve been sending to Derek. What’s up with that?”

Stiles wonders if he should be surprised that Scott noticed. Before he became an Alpha, he would have been surprised, because Scott could be pretty oblivious. Since becoming Alpha, however, Scott has been eerily perceptive. Stiles was willing to bet money it had to do with the pack bond, but since no one knew for sure, he let it drop.

He shrugs. “Mostly I’m trying to loosen him up. He’s had a shitty life, you know? I just figured I’d try to make him more comfortable.”

Scott considers this for a moment before asking, “Is it working?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Stiles says.

Scott nods. “Cool.”

And then he turns back to his controller and jumps back into the game. Stiles sends Cora a picture of his shoes.

Ten minutes later, there’s a knock on the door, and Scott says, “It’s Derek.”

Stiles gets up, because Scott is in the middle of a battle and he’s not cruel enough to make him pause the game in the middle of a battle. He opens the door to see Derek standing there, holding the week’s dinner, which was Subway, and his usual bag of Doritos and his six pack of Dr. Pepper. Stiles privately thinks Derek is addicted to the stuff, but to each his own.

“Hey,” Stiles says, standing back to let him in.

“Hi,” Derek says, walking past and heading directly into the kitchen. Stiles follows, and Scott, having won the battle, pauses the game and follows, apparently smelling the food.

“No one else is here yet,” Stiles says just as the front door opens. Derek smirks at him as Isaac walks in. Stiles gives Derek a mock-glare before waving at Isaac and pulling his own sandwich out.

Not even a minute passes before there’s another knock at the door, and Scott stands and goes to get it. Stiles takes a bite of his sandwich as Lydia and Allison walk in, and there’s the usual five minutes of silence as everyone eats and they all relax in the company of their pack.

Then Stiles, who always breaks the silence, unable to help himself, says, “Did you know an electric eel can produce a shock up to 650 volts?”

This starts a conversation about eels, which in turn leads to sushi, and then the usage of chopsticks. This conversation lasts the rest of dinner, and trails off as they go into the living room. It’s Allison’s turn to pick, and she picks _The Hunger Games_ , following up on a promise from a few weeks back when Isaac, Scott, and Derek all admitted to never seeing it before. Stiles plans on making them all read the books, too.

Surprisingly, it’s Derek who initiates the conversation this time, with a text a few minutes into the movie.

**What the hell is this movie even about?**

It takes Stiles a few texts to explain the story of _The Hunger Games_. By the time he’s done, Katniss has volunteered as tribute, and Derek is watching, clearly interested. Stiles doesn’t dare interrupt what seems to be legitimate fascination, so he abstains from texting him until the end of the movie, when Derek looks perplexed and slightly annoyed.

_What up with the sourwolf look?_

Derek hesitates before responding.

**How can the parents be okay with letting this happen? And the people in the Capitol?**

Stiles reeeally doesn’t want to go into this, but he types out a response. At least it’s something he likes to talk about.

_The parents aren’t okay with it, but they don’t really have a choice. They’re afraid and beaten down. And the people in the Capitol are brainwashed._

He offers the books to Derek, and Derek accepts his offer somewhat eagerly. Stiles ignores the knowing look he’s now getting from Lydia and promises to run them over to Derek’s apartment the next morning.

Of course, it takes half the night to find all three books that have somehow made it into storage, but he does, and at nine in the morning, he heads over to Derek’s apartment. He hates Derek’s apartment, unable to go to it without thinking of Boyd’s death, and Jennifer, and his dad missing, but he ignores the memories in favor of giving Derek the books.

“Thanks,” Derek says. He looks like he’s a bit uneasy, too. Stiles thinks about that, and blurts out what he’s thinking before he can stop himself.

“How can you stand to be here?”

Derek freezes, and Stiles wants to walk away and bang his head into a wall. He’s pretty sure it would end better than this will.

But Derek’s turning toward him, and he opens his mouth.

“I’m not usually here,” he says quietly. “I don’t like it here, either.”

Stiles wonders why he hasn’t got a new place then, but doesn’t want to push the issue. Derek’s looking dangerously like he’s going to revert to his old ways, and Stiles doesn’t like that. He likes the way Derek’s learning to be more open with them. He likes the new expressions he’s getting to see, and the way Derek laughs, and his sense of humor, and he doesn’t want Derek to shut down again.

“You know,” he stops, then clears his throat. “You know if you need a place to come to, you can come to my place. Okay?”

Derek looks at him, and there’s barely-hidden gratitude there behind the casual look that’s apparently supposed to fool Stiles into thinking it’s not a big deal. Stiles decides to go along with it, if only for Derek’s pride, and waits expectantly for Derek to respond.

He does, eventually.

“Okay,” he says, looking down at the books still in his hands. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Stiles hopes he does. Whether he takes up the offer or not, he has to know that they’re not just pack now, they’re friends. Stiles cares about him, more than he’d even realized.

He decides to revise his mission. Instead of just making Derek laugh, he decides to start making sure Derek doesn’t feel lonely anymore. He wants to make Derek feel comfortable in Beacon Hills, instead of feeling like he’s constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’s going to be Derek’s friend.

He grins at Derek and says, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

Derek rolls his eyes, but there’s an almost-smile on his face, and Stiles is still grinning as he leaves Derek’s apartment, already working on the next phase of his plan. He’s determined to make this work.


End file.
